Can pills make you more depressed?

Post Reply New Topic

In April I had my Gallbladder removed and during this time due to EXTREME stomach pain and the surgery I'd skip my pills for a day or two etc. Well during this time my mom mention perhaps I had AS (hasn't went any further on a diagnosis since I don't want to mess up my SSI and such) anyway I felt better then then I do now. Sure I have my issues and I do thank of the suspension daily but for once I was peaceful and in a "truly" good mood NOT faking it as I tend to do now. So I was curious can pills make you more depressed?

Sadly Psychiatrist focus on pills (one said I couldn't have AS since that's something diagnosed in children and there's no pill for that and this is a place that gives pills.) Ever since my FIRST negative experience (talk of College issue Oh up the Dose of the pill (repeat for 3 months) So at that time I said SCREW HER! and she was like how am I supposed to help you if you don't tell me what's wrong I said I don't know I don't care she said fine LEAVE! So I walked out of her office, ever since that first bad experience I've pretty much kept my mouth shut with people. SO should I talk to my Psychiatrist about how I feel etc? (The first session was I think I have AS due to X he said perhaps and here's another pill to "level my mood")

UH I STILL THANK OF THE SUSPENSION EVERY SECOND OF EVERYDAY! and like I said those days I skipped my pills I was more at ease but I'm not sure how to word this to him without him thanking I'm crazy or take ANOTHER pill!! ! I'm on Lamictal,Wellbutrin XL,Risperdol,synthroid (I know thyroid issues can cause depression) and perhaps hormones (since I'm on the patch for not producing Estrogen no ovaries,uterus etc.) So any tips??

I'm not qualified to tell you how those medications might affect you but meds can have all kinds of side effects and if you feel your pills are making you feel worse then it's worth speaking to your psychiatrist (and any other doctors involved in your treatment) to see what alternatives are available to you. Sometimes dosages need a bit of tweaking before they have the desired effect or meds might need to be changed/discontinued altogether. You're on several medications and I would imagine the interactions between these drugs needs to be monitored quite carefully so professional advice is definitely the way to go.

That person needs to be fired. I am so sick of these professionals acting like they know it all. That doesn't even make sense! A diagnosis is only a "confirmation" and not some application of symptoms to an individual. It's not like they just say, "Oh, you're autistic!" and then hit you in the head with a hammer and suddenly you like to spin in circles, sniff your pillow, and enjoy lots of alone time.

Anyway, I don't want to give you bad advice here, so I will just say: do what feels right to you.

I don't believe taking pills is a good idea for anyone. Not even just pain killers for a head ache. Most of those things just aren't natural and should not go into the body.

There are plenty of natural solutions, be it taking a natural supplement of some kind or maybe some activity or practice.

Before you make any decision you should research alternatives!

I need to add that most doctors, or just "professionals" in general will probably suggest pills. Ignore them.

Do your research online and forget them, they aren't worth your time or money.

Well, if you're obsessed every minute and crying every day, you could hardly be doing worse if you stopped taking meds entirely. If it were me, I would tell the doctor I want to go off the pills and ask them to "ramp down" the doses safely, threatening to stop cold turkey if they wouldn't help me.

I'm curious, what is it that you're diagnosed with that gets you SSI? And why would having a disability like AS mess that up for you?

Well I was diagnosed Bipolar 2 (1st Psychiatrist had me/mom fill out a yellow sheet Yep Bipolar 2 a mood disorder) (She showed me the DSM (since then/and now I have an interest in Psychology) IMO it didn't make since. I was trying to get SSI (mainly medical supplies are 1000+ a month is the main issue and I can't stand/sit for long periods (Yes surfing web/playing videogame but I'm constantly up/down moving I don't think I could sit/stay in one spot for an 8hr. full time work day.) They were looking at physical issues (for not being able to work) but then looked at Bipolar 2 and went along with that. I'm not sure if a diagnosis of AS would mess it up (that was my mom's opinion.) (I agree going off of them might be an idea although I do agree I had some anger issues in the past but also thanking of the issue all day/crying etc. isn't good either. I'll bring it up to him and see what he says. Thanks for the help.

Absolutely.

Doctors are largely guessing when they give you meds to deal with your body. If it gets the desired result in a majority of cases, they label it as such and market it.

Lots of meds for depression actually can induce feelings strong enough to drive the person to suicide, and they disclose that in the advertising.

How effective a drug is (or its side effects) depends on the individual taking them.

That's why I'll never listen to an unexperienced, 23-year old psychiatrist when I'm in my 30's or 40's.

Psychoactive drugs, like anti-depressants, do not always work, in fact they frequently do not.

In fact one of the things that has never been proven is the effectiveness of these drugs on people with ASD, in fact if anything has been proven it is that there is no medication that really works.

This is especially the case with Anxiety and Depression. The anti-anxiety/anti-depressant medication on the market is designed largely for folks who just have anxiety or depression that deal with serotonian levels. You throw in an ASD, which has a different brain structure, the effectiveness of the medication, which is already hit and miss, becomes more so. Especially when you consider that many of the issues with ASD and anxiety and depression have less to do with serotonian, and more to do with aspects of ASDs such as difficulty with communicating, sensory issues, etc. This is part of the reason the drugs may have not worked.

Interesting. After the suspension I laid in bed for 3 months depressed (didn't stop until my parents locked me out of my room and intervened) Another time I had my first friend die I layed in bed and cried for 12 months (so ya some depression issues of sorts) but overall the issue is that I upset everyone around me THAT'S THE ISSUE! IMO I just need to learn how to behave what's right/wrong and have someone help me understand my behavior it should be MORE than Oh you're depressed take a pill.

I´m not an specialist on the subject... I´ve been reading some books and what I read has been contraditory... for eg. Gibberg (2002) says that there are no large scale study of the long term efficacy of psychoactive drugs on the main symptoms of autism but there is clinical experience that some drugs had positive effects. On the other hand I was looking at this other book "Understanding Autism, From Basic Neuroscience to Treatment" where the author cites controled studies of the effects of different drugs on the behaviour of autistics that consisted the sample and he finds out that some of the drugs had higher effects than placebo. (confused)

Talk to your psychiatrist it it the best thing to do.

I hear a lot of this stories about people here on WP who had bad experiences with psychiatrists. That is sad!

Yes, it can. Metoclopramide had a negative effect on me. I'd go suicidal, feel empty, increased sense of hopelessness.

Precisely why they call the performance of the medical profession "practicing".

Not sure if anti-depressant pills can make you more depressed. I'm guessing they could if you depend strictly on the meds and don't try other kinds of therapy. All I know for sure is they didn't work for me- all I got was consistent headaches so I made the decision to stop taking them.

This was a good book which argues against over-medicating with anti-depressants:
Comfortably Numb by Charles Barber
subtitled How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation

A couple things that he points out:
-- how little they actually know about how SSRIs affect neurotransmitters. He mentioned one European drug which does the opposite as an SSRI (promotes serotonin re-uptake) and has similar success rates.
-- European countries tend to be more sensible in their approach. As an example he quotes a UK guideline which states that for mild to moderate depression, non-drug treatments should be attempted first.

Yes. Every anti depresent I have ever been on never worked at all. Some did nothing at all while most of them just made it worse. I hear that often is the cause and that autistics react negetively to SSRIs. What worked for me was getting at the root of the depression and taking a medicine for anxiety. Everyone is an individual though. What worked for me may not work for another and what did not work for me may be what another needs.

I'm an idiot but today I ate a large bar of chocolate before going into my college course. I felt I couldn't face it but after eating the chocolate I started laughing like a happy maniac. I was quite jolly, even though almost as withdrawn as ever, for the rest of the day.

So ditch the pills and eat chocolate!